Tag Archives: ESPN2

Thursday’s weigh-in for Friday’s junior middleweight fight between contender Vanes Martirosyan of Glendale and Mario Lozano of Mexico at Morongo Casino Resort in Cabazon (on ESPN2) is open to the public.

The weigh-in will take place at 2 p.m. at the Vibe night club inside the casino.

Martirosyan will be making his first start for Goossen Tutor Promotions after having fought under the Top Rank Inc. banner.

“Fans on hand at the Morongo Casino and those watching on ESPN Friday Night Fights are in for an outstanding evening of entertainment and what I believe will be a statement performance by Vanes against a very tough fighter in Lozano, who has never been KO’d,” promoter Dan Goossen said.

Also, Curtis Stevens (25-4, 18 KOs) of Brooklyn and Patrick Majewski (21-2, 13 KOs) of Atlantic City via Poland will fight in the middleweight main event from Resorts International in Atlantic City (on NBC Sports Network).

Juan Funez of Reseda is what we call a prospect. The super featherweight is 3-0 with one knockout, he is talented and he is a southpaw. He’s trained by his uncle, Ricky Funez, with an assist from world-class trainer Joe Goossen out of Goossen’s gym in Van Nuys.

Funez and his team have gone up to Big Bear to finish training for Funez’s fight Jan. 24 against Marcello Gallardo (3-0) at Little Creek Casino Resort in Shelton, Wash. on the undercard of the light heavyweight main event between Thomas Williams and Cornelius White (on ESPN2).

It seems Team Funez wanted to get its young fighter some time with some world-class fighters. Since the training in Big Bear is being done at Abel Sanchez’s gym, that means Funez is spending time with middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and heavyweight contender Mike Perez, both of whom are trained by West Covina’s Sanchez.

“It has given me a whole different perspective of what training is really like when you’re a world champion,” Juan Funez said. “My uncle and Joe talk to me all of the time of what it takes to be a world champion and how you have to live boxing every minute of every day. But to see it with Gennady and Mike up here in the mountains just pumped me up that much more.”

Among other things, Funez has been running the mountains with Golovkin and Perez.

“I believe Juan has the tools to become an exciting world-class fighter and Joe and I are prepared to do everything to make sure he reaches his goals,” Ricky Funez said.

Chris Algieri and Emmanuel Taylor are not quite nationally recognized fighters just yet, but they will be on the national stage on Valentine’s Day – Feb. 14 – when they square off in the junior welterweight main event at Paramount Theatre in Huntington, N.Y. (on ESPN2).

Algieri, of Huntington, is stoked.

“This is just the kind of fight I’ve wanted, against another top prospect with national exposure,” said Algieri, who is 18-0 with eight knockouts. “I was at Taylor’s win over Raymond Serrano last January and I’m very aware of how tough he is.

“There’s already a great buzz about this fight and the Paramount, as always, will be packed and full of great boxing fans.”

Interestingly, this will be Algieri’s eighth consecutive fight at Paramount Theatre. Algieri’s promoter, Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing, raves about him and the excitement he brings to his hometown.

“This is an excellent nationally televised matchup of young, hungry junior welterweights with a lot to gain” DeGuardia said. “Chris has made the Paramount his home with his electrifying hometown performances. This will be his eighth fight in the venue, all wins and all sellouts.”

Andrzej Fonfara of Chicago via Poland knocked out former light heavyweight champion Gabriel Campillo of Spain in the ninth round with a body shot in a light heavyweight title-elimination bout at U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. It was televised on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights.

Fonfara, 25, is now 24-2 with 14 knockouts. Campillo, 34, is 22-6-1 with nine knockouts. He was champion from June 2009 to January 2010, losing his belt in his second defense.

Gabriel Tolmajyan of Glendale in April scored a mild upset of Jorge Maysonet Jr. Tolmajyan is hopeful he can keep it going with a victory Friday over Jose Pedraza of Puerto Rico at Morongo Casino Resort in Cabazon (on ESPN2).

“I can’t even describe how badly I want this,” said Tolmajyan, 27. “I feel like this is my opportunity to move up the rankings and solidify my status as one of the best in the (super featherweight) division. This is my time and I know that in this sport you don’t get many, so my plan is to come out and leave it all in the ring.”

The 24-year-old Pedraza (13-0, 9 KOs) is undefeated, just like fellow Puerto Rican Maysonet was before he was upset by Tolmajyan.

Featherweight contender Javier Fortuna of the Dominican Republic and Luis Franco of Miami, Fla. via Cuba fought to a 10-round draw on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights from Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Okla.

It was another case of weird scoring. Judge David Sutherland scored it 95-95, with Jerry Griffin giving it to Fortuna 96-94. The third judge – Chris Ritter – had Franco winning 99-91. That’s a 10-point differential between the cards of Ritter and Griffin.

Unfortunately for John Molina of Covina, he fights in a boxing world today where, unless you are an established star, you better not lose more than a fight or two, or you’ll have a hard time getting there.

Take the networks. Molina had just gotten on HBO for the first time, then got stopped in the first round in a challenge to lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco in September 2012 at Oracle Arena in Oakland. It was a big stage, as it was on the undercard of the Andre Ward-Chad Dawson super middleweight title fight.

Molina came back with an impressive fourth-round knockout of Dannie Williams in January at Pueblo Pavilion in Santa Fe, N.M. That was televised by ESPN2. And a week from Friday – on June 7 – Molina (25-2, 20 KOs) will be squaring off with Andrey Klimov (15-0, 8 KOs) of Russia in Shelton, Wash. (on ESPN2).

A good showing could get Molina back on HBO, and in the limelight. One thing’s for sure, Molina has enough power to take out any opponent with one punch, as his 74 percent knockout ratio attests. That helps keep him attractive to the networks.

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